Spectra

Chapter 26

Emily

"Do you think she's okay?" I asked leaning forward on to the back of Lucas' chair. He looked back at me.

"She's probably fine." He said quickly.

"Maddy's only twelve. If she does find him how could she defend herself. It's not like she has powers." I was worried about her. Sure, she told me I'm weak, but she doesn't know I'm Spectra so I wasn't as mad as before. I guess I do a good job of hiding my alter ego if she sees me as weak, right? Lucas spun around in his chair and showed me the computer.

"So I might've put a tracking device on Maddy before she left so that we knew where she was and if she needed help." He grinned, proud of his actions. I nodded in approval and looked at the screen. The red dot that represented her seemed to fly through the city streets. I pointed at it.

"She's moving so fast, do you think she took a bus?" Weird, I thought. "Not a very effective way to find someone." Lucas looked like he was trying to think of something to say but couldn't get it out. "Whatever, at least she's safer that way." He slowly nodded, agreeing with me.

"So what do we know about this guy?" Lucas stood up and searched a storage closet as he spoke. He rolled out a giant white board and brought it near me.

"Why do you have a white board?" I questioned then realized it wasn't relevant. "Actually it doesn't matter."

"Okay. Firstly, what did he look like?" Lucas asked holding a marker in his hand. I took the marker from him and began speed drawing. A second later I had a drawing of someone who looked just like my scary seventh grade science teacher. Lucas watched with his mouth open in awe. "You know, sometimes I forget how perfect you are and then you do something like this." I had to admit, it was pretty detailed.

"See? He looks exactly like Mr. Fadden from seventh grade. He's the only teacher I've had that didn't like me. Actually he hated me. Called me a 'know it all' every time I would try an answer a question. I hated it so I just stopped answering questions. But then I stopped raising my hand in all classes." I had never realized how much this jerk affected me. "No wonder my hands shake whenever a teacher calls on me." I said, forgetting we were supposed to be planning  and not storytelling. Lucas must've too because seemed to be listening intently to my story. "Alright, back to planning."

"Right. So when he got to your head, what did you see?" This was the one question I hoped he wouldn't ask. What I saw was so traumatizing that just thinking about it made my heart pound. I rubbed my eyes.

"I really don't want to talk about it. It was so terrifying that I-I just can't." Embarrassed, I looked down at my feet. He probably thought I was weak and pathetic because I couldn't talk about what happened. When I looked up,his face said otherwise. He looked at me in concern, not disappointment. "It was like experiencing all my fears at once." I took a deep breath as I remembered how real it felt.

"So we can assume he has some sort of fear manipulation. Usually, like you with your light, what they manipulate can also make them stronger. That means that fear from others most likely powers him. Therefore, if my theories are correct, you can defeat him if you don't let him scare you." He explained. It all made sense, except the last part. He knocked me out within like thirty seconds last time. I couldn't do it. Stepped up in front of me as though he had heard my thoughts. "You are the bravest, and strongest person I know. You can do this, okay?" I swallowed down my fears and nodded, hoping I looked the slightest bit brave. All of a sudden the computer began beeping. Lucas ran over to it and turned to me. "It's Maddy. Something's wrong, you've got to go now. Your suit is probably done drying in the laundry room."